Thirteen Keys
by Dragon Silhouette
Summary: Lucy receives a set of thirteen platinum keys. Figure the rest out for yourself.
1. The Key of Destiny

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Kingdom Hearts or Fairy Tail.

**Summary:** Lucy receives a set of thirteen platinum keys. Figure the rest out for yourself.

**Update Schedule:** Sporadic and at my own convenience. In other words, slow. Also, I'm making this up as I go along. So yeah.

**Author's Note:** I had a dream. This is the result. Must stop eating ice cream before bed. Also got inspiration from _Opening Dangerous Gates_ (Bleach x Fairy Tail crossover) by LadyD0544. I recommend it if you are familiar with both fandoms. If only Fairy Tail, well, I still recommend it - the Shinigami have... interesting personalities.

This is after the Grand Magic Games, but before whatever is happening right now. I kind of forgot everything that happened after that.

I also put "Humor" in the genre section... But I'm not really sure if this counts as humour. It's lighthearted, I can tell you that... But I'll try to make it funny!

* * *

**Thirteen Keys**

**Number XIII - Roxas**

**[ The Key of Destiny ]**

* * *

Lucy jumped into the fountain screaming, avoiding a set of very large claws from the oddly cute shadow demon that was her job to kill.

They - Natsu, Grey, Erza, Happy, and Lucy - had taken an S-Class job to hunt down unknown shadow demons that had been terrorizing the town of Jackalore for months. The reward was ten million Jewels and a set of never-before-seen platinum Celestial Spirit keys.

Of course Lucy just had to get those keys.

In fact, the dangers of the job didn't fully register until they encountered three of the demons in the middle of the town square in broad daylight. The townspeople had frozen and then ran into the nearest buildings like they had done it a thousand times before. (In all likelihood, they probably had.)

The rest of the team didn't even bat an eye when dozens of other yellow-eyed demons stepped out of the shadows.

"What is this!" Lucy wailed. "They don't even leave bodies!"

"It seems the townspeople were correct," Erza remarked thoughtfully, wearing her Heaven's Wheel armour and casually slicing a demon in half. It dissolved into particles of darkness. "I myself have never seen these kinds of demons before. They are probably an undiscovered species. Fascinating."

"Heh, they're not so tough," Gray grunted. "Ice Make: Lance!" An ice lance slammed into a shadow demon creeping up Lucy.

"I have three!" Natsu yelled in glee, punching another demon with a flame-covered fist. Happy cheered for him from above.

Lucy coughed out a thanks, smoothed out her skirt, and stood. She steeled her nerves and picked out a Gold Key from her collection. "Open, Gate of the Golden Bull - Taurus!"

Taurus appeared beside her in all his massive muscular glory. Without prompting, he charged at... Lucy's breasts. "Ahhh so perfect!"

"Get in there and kill those demons!" Lucy yelled. She lunged to the side, barely avoiding another set of claws.

"Noo! How dare you hit Lucy's perfect body!" Taurus roared and beheaded the shadow demon. He then proceeded to swing his axe everywhere, hitting all incoming shadows and accumulating collateral damage.

"Well... At least he's fighting," Lucy muttered.

Soon, all the were defeated. None of them even had a scratch. Except for Lucy, who skinned her knee when she jumped into the fountain, but that didn't count.

Natsu scoffed and proclaimed, "That was easy!"

Erza nodded. She Requipped into her casual Heart Kreuz armour. "Indeed. Come, let's report to the mayor."

Lucy remembered why they chose the job in the first place and cheered.

* * *

"That was very impressive," the Mayor of Jackalore praised. The Fairy Tail team were in the Mayor's office, a large room surrounded by books with a humongous mahogany desk in the centre. A floor-to-ceiling window took up the wall behind the desk, letting in natural sunlight and showcasing the now-destroyed town square. The Mayor didn't seem too bothered by the damages.

"It was nothing," Natsu grinned.

"As for your reward..." the Mayor rummaged through his desk and produced a bag containing ten million Jewels and a keyring containing thirteen curious Platinum Keys. He handed them to Erza, who passed the keys to Lucy.

Lucy gawked at the Platinum Keys reverently. They were truly never-before-seen, as no one had ever heard of platinum Celestial Spirit keys. The keys had identical handles forming a vague upside-down heart with a pointed cross on the top. Each of them had Roman numerals from I to XIII engraved in the centre and unique designs on their teeth. They all hummed with a strange power that felt otherworldly to Lucy.

"Thank you so much," she whispered. These keys... Whatever they summoned, they were powerful, she could tell. Possibly even more powerful than her Gold Keys.

"Those look cool," Natsu commented, peering over her shoulder. "Can't wait to fight against them."

"Natsu, you are not going to - "

A scream interrupted Lucy's scolding. Alarmed, the Mayor and the mages scrambled to the window and blinked as hundreds of demons attacked the townspeople. Except the cute ones weren't alone. Accompanying them were various incarnations of shadow demons, all with the same red cross-hearted design somewhere on their bodies. There were the normal cute ones, as well as ones in various colour-coded dresses. There were ones that flew, ones that had antennae that reached the floor, and ones that were as big as houses. Shadow demons that wielded weapons and musical instruments alike crawled from the darkness. Large, fat ones covered in armour easily deflected projectiles from those who tried to fight them.

Overall, it was a very scary sight.

Lucy was well aware of her hanging jaw.

"Oh my," the Mayor said faintly.

"Che, we'll take care of them," Natsu said cockily.

Gray nodded while Erza just hummed in agreement.

"E - Eh?" Lucy managed. "All... Of them...?"

"And don't worry about the payment," Erza added. "Our job is to eradicate these shadow demons, after all, and it seems we missed a few."

"A few..." Lucy wondered what Erza's definition of "many" was.

"Let's go!"

* * *

And that was how Lucy found herself cowering behind a barrel, separated from her team, nursing a sprained ankle, and her normal set of keys stolen by one of the floating demons. She didn't even have her whip - it slipped from her hand while she fought a floating green shadow demon.

A fat armored one stomped past.

"Ooh, I am so dead," she mumbled. She patted her pockets once again for something useful... And heard the familiar sound of clinking metal. Puzzled, she pulled out a key ring... And her recently-acquired Platinum Keys.

She stared at it stupidly for a moment, wondering how they got there. A crash from behind her barrel jolted her out of it.

But she didn't know how to use these keys. Didn't know the names of the spirits, or their titles...

She froze as the fat armoured demon lifted her barrel with ease. "Oh..." she said nervously to the demon. It stared at the mage with curious yellow eyes. "So, um, I really don't taste very good... Can you... Go pick someone else to eat...?"

The demon lifted the barrel.

Lucy screamed and dived away. "Waaaaaaahhh!" Instinctively, she picked out a Platinum Key, pointed it at the demon, and yelled, " Open, Gate of the Key of Destiny - Number XIII: Roxas!"

A burst of light - blinding white light - and the summoned spirit appeared.

Lucy blinked, clearing her sight, and gaped. "Whaa... How...?"

The spirit - _how the heck did I do that?_ - was a confused blond-haired, blue-eyed boy in a black leather hooded coat. "Huh?" The boy caught sight of the demon and summoned two strange weapons that vaguely resembled giant ornate keys. He swung the black one at the demon's head and it burst into black smoke. Lucy continued to gape when a heart emerged from the smoke, floating into the air a short distance before disappearing. That definitely didn't happen when _they_ killed them.

"... Wha - O - Okay." Lucy stood up and faced the spirit. She could feel the draw in her magic. She was still wondering how she knew the name of the spirit - _Roxas_ - but that wasn't important right now. This was also not the time to be forming contracts so... "Okay, Roxas, there are a bunch of shadow demons attacking the town square. You need to kill them," the Celestial Spirit Mage ordered.

The short spirit - _whoa_, those eyes are _blue_ - stared at her, puzzled. "Do I know you?"

"Yeah - Well, no, but I summoned you. We can talk about this later - Look out!" Lucy dived away again, but Roxas just stabbed the attacking demon and it disappeared. Lucy looked around a saw, horrified, that seemingly all the demons in town were now heading straight towards them.

"Heartless," Roxas murmured, settling into a fighting stance. He held up his black and white keys. "Get behind me."

Lucy did so without question. As much as she'd like to fight with him, she didn't have a weapon, and her sprained ankle meant she couldn't even do a simple Lucy-kick. All she could do was give him as much of her magic as possible to keep him summoned.

The demons - _Heartless_, Roxas called them - jumped them. Lucy watched in awe as the blond spirit swung his weapons and took out any and all that attacked. His giant keys whirled around, seemingly acting like a homing beacon to the enemies. Every so often Roxas fired a spell from his keys, mostly of the elemental nature although he occasionally cast a healing spell at himself, but he relied on his weapons most of the time.

Eventually all the demons were defeated. Roxas's keys disappeared in a flash of light and he turned to the Celestial Spirit Mage. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," she mumbled. All those demons - there must've been hundreds - defeated by _one_ spirit? Daaaamn.

"Lucy!" Said mage saw the rest of her team running towards her. Erza, the one who yelled, reached her first and said, "So this is where you were. We were concerned when we found your keys and whip in the fountain and all the demons stopped fighting us and headed here." She threw said items to Lucy, who thanked her.

"You got all the demons," Natsu complained. "I didn't even get fifty of them."

"Wait," Gray intervened, one eyebrow raised, "Lucy got all the demons? Without her spirits?"

"It seems so," Erza confirmed. "This is where all the demons were."

"Lucy got stroooong!" Happy added.

"Umm, it wasn't me," Lucy mumbled, head bowed. "It was him." She pointed at her spirit. For the first time, her team noticed the black-clad blond standing awkwardly behind Lucy.

"You beat all the demons?" Natsu brightened. "I've never seen you before; are you one of those new spirits Lucy got? Fight me!"

"No you idiot!" Lucy, with a burst of strength coming from her protectiveness over her spirits, punched the Fire Dragon Slayer in the face. Natsu slammed into a wall. "Wow Lucy... You got stroooong." Blood dripped from his nose.

"Sorry about that," Lucy told Roxas. "He's an idiot."

"I... See..." Roxas looked around. "There aren't anymore Heartless, just so you know."

"Then our job is done," said Erza. "I'll tell the Mayor. The rest of you, go wait for the train. We have along ride back to Magnolia Town."

* * *

"What can you tell me about these keys?" Lucy asked Crux. Fairy Tail's so-called strongest team were now on the train back to Magnolia Town. It was a long, torturous four-hour ride for Natsu.

Crux, a moustached spirit with a giant metal cross for a head, studied the platinum keys and fell asleep.

"Uggghh," Natsu moaned, his face an interesting shade of green. "I... Hate... Trains... I'm gonna barf on Erza."

The redhead punched him.

"Idiot," Gray snickered.

Happy patted Natsu in the back comfortingly.

Crux suddenly awakened. "Interesting..."

Lucy sat up and all eyes were on the Southern Cross. "What?"

"These are not ordinary keys," said Crux. "Nor do they summon ordinary spirits. In fact, they do not summon spirits at all, but rather, Nobodies."

"Nobodies?" Lucy asked.

"Nobodies are the remains of strong-willed beings who have lost their hearts," Crux explained. "The majority of them take on vaguely humanoid white-and-grey forms, and all bear the Nobody insignia." Crux pointed at the handles of the keys. "The stronger the will, the more humanoid their appearance. These are the lesser Nobodies. And then... There are those who retain their original appearance. They look completely human, and it is this kind of Nobodies that these keys summon. There are only fourteen greater Nobodies in existence, and thirteen of them," Crux nodded at the platinum keys, "can be summoned using those keys."

"Wait," Gray interrupted, "what's up with the missing one?"

Crux hummed. "She... is a special Nobody. You will not be able to summon her."

"How did they lose their hearts in the first place?" Erza asked.

"I am not at liberty to release that information."

Lucy raised a hand. "I summoned one of them today, even though I didn't know his name or title. How?"

"It is instinctive, so worry not about learning their names." He paused. "I am out of time. But take note: you do not need to make a contract with them, you can only summon the Nobodies in order of seniority, from thirteen to one - so the next new key you will use will be Number XII - and they will lose their power once you have summoned Number I."

"What!"

"But you can still summon those you've already summoned."

"Oh... That's... Good...?"

Crux nodded and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

There was no noise in the cabin aside from the train and Natsu's groans. Finally, Lucy picked up the Platinum Keys and said, "So... Nobodies...?"

"Sounds interesting," Gray commented.

"You should ask the one you summoned for the rest of their names," Erza suggested. "Just in case."

"His name's Roxas," Lucy automatically answered. "And yeah, I probably should." She picked out the key with the number XIII on it. She scooted to make room on her side, pointed the key, gathered her magic, and said, "Open, Gate of the Key of Destiny - Number XIII: Roxas."

There was that blinding white light again - everyone shielded their eyes - and the blond Nobody appeared sitting beside Lucy. He blinked and looked at the occupants of the cabin in confusion. "Again...?"

"Hey Roxas." Lucy waved a hand in front of the boy. "I'm Lucy, your Summoner. That's Natsu," she pointed at the sick mage, "that's Gray," she pointed at the half-nude boy, "and that's Erza," she pointed at the redhead.

The blue cat raised a paw. "And I'm Happy."

"Umm, hi." Roxas didn't look too sure about the situation. "Why am I here?"

"What're the names of the others?" Gray asked bluntly.

"Gray!" Lucy chided. She looked at Roxas apologetically. "Sorry. We were wondering about the others of your kind. I mean..." She searched for the right words. "There are thirteen of you, right? I'd just like to know their names and titles and abilities so I can summon the right one if I need to. And your name is only one I know right now, so..."

Roxas thought about it and said slowly, "I don't know if I'm allowed to do that..."

"I'll instinctively know their names when I summon them," Lucy offered. "So I'll know it later anyway. I just thought it'd be nice to know beforehand who I'm calling for."

Roxas was still unconvinced. Out of the blue, he asked, "What's the name of this world?"

"I'll tell you if you tell me their names," Lucy bargained.

He glared.

"Earthland," she said, defeated.

"I'll get back to you later," Roxas promised. Then he disappeared in a swirl of darkness.

"What!" Lucy exclaimed, while the others' eyes were wide. "I didn't do that!"

"Summon him again," Erza ordered.

"Open, Gate of the Key of Destiny - Number XIII: Roxas!" The summoned Nobody appeared again, and this time he did not look happy.

"How did you do that?" Erza demanded.

"None of your business," he retorted, and disappeared in a swirl of darkness once more.

Lucy summoned Roxas again.

Roxas disappeared again.

"This isn't working," Lucy sighed. "I'll just ask Crux later. Maybe he'll know a little something."

* * *

Crux did know.

But he couldn't reveal that information either.

"Privacy policies," Crux had said serenely.

Lucy sagged. "So... I'll just have to discover them myself."

"Indeed. Also..." Crux trailed off hesitantly, then continued, "As long as those keys are in this world, Heartless - you called them Shadow Demons - will be drawn to its power." The Celestial Spirit frowned. "Well, not all of their power, per se. They are drawn to Number XIII and his weapon, and he comes with all the other keys..."

"Oh," she muttered, "so I'll be expecting some Heartless attacks soon?"

"Precisely." With that, Crux disappeared.

Lucy sank back to her bed. Her apartment, for once, hadn't been broken in by Natsu. Or Gray. Or Erza. Maybe they were tired.

Lucy snorted. Those monsters were never tired. Luckily, she wasn't a monster (she hoped), so she closed her eyes and quickly fell asleep.

She dreamt of white halls, a room with thirteen thrones, and a familiar blond boy reporting to a silver-haired man with amber eyes. He did _not_ look happy.

* * *

**Next Chapter - Number XII: Larxene**


	2. The Savage Nymph

**Disclaimer:** Kingdom Hearts and Fairy Tail are not mine.

**Author's Note:** Larxene. Yeah. I hope I got her personality right. Um.

Also, I can't vouch for the quality of my chapters. Let me be honest: they're not going to be very good. Next chapter won't be up for a while, too. The reason this is up soon is because it was already written before I posted the first chapter.

* * *

**Thirteen Keys**

**Number XII - Larxene**

**[ The Savage Nymph ]**

* * *

Lucy sipped at her drink, relaxing at the bar, ignoring the brawls going on behind her. This was, after all, Fairy Tail at its usual.

She fingered her pockets and pulled out two key rings, one with Silver and Gold Keys and the other with Platinum Keys. Running her hand over the two sets, she confirmed the fact that the Platinum Keys were definitely more powerful than the Gold Keys. There was just something about them, otherworldly in a way that the Zodiacs weren't (and the Zodiacs were pretty damn otherworldly). She could almost say they were multi-worldly, if there was such a thing.

She was so lost in thought, she didn't notice when the guild hall suddenly became quiet, all eyes on the small blond figure that came from a portal of swirling darkness. There was a gentle tap on her shoulder. "Excuse me, Lucy?"

Lucy jumped in her seat, jolted from her reverie, and turned her head. Her eyes widened. There, in front of her, was the black-clad Nobody she summoned not three days ago. His big blue eyes was studying her face curiously, as if trying to match it with his memories. "Yes," he concluded, "you're Lucy."

"Oh, hi," Lucy said belatedly, still surprised at the fact that he was here without being summoned. "Uh, how are you here?"

Roxas avoided her gaze. "We have our ways. Anyway, I was ordered to tell you to try and not summon us too much, 'cause we still have work to do. Oh, and that you only summon me whenever there are Emblem Heartless around."

"Emblem Heartless?" Lucy questioned.

"The more colourful ones," he clarified. He looked around and borrowed a sketch pad and pen from a startled Reedus and drew something. "They have a black-and-red heart symbol somewhere on their bodies, like this." The young Nobody showed Lucy a badly-drawn crossed-out heart with a flared bottom. It was adorable, in a way. "We don't care about Pureblood Heartless, so you can take care of those on your own. They're the ones that look like shadows, yellow eyes and all black and stuff," he added, seeing the question on her face.

"And that's pretty much it," he finished. "I'll be going now."

Before he could leave, Lucy grabbed his arm. "Wait! Don't you want to stay a little while?"

"Not really," he replied bluntly.

She blinked and drew her hand back in disappointment. "Oh. Okay."

Roxas frowned at her expression. "Are you sad?"

"No, no," she said hurriedly. "You can go, I'm sure you must be very busy..."

The Nobody nodded. "Alright. By the way..." He glanced at the Platinum Keys on the table. "You're summoning Number XII next, right?"

Nodding, Lucy prompted him to continue.

He sighed and looked at her sympathetically. "You might want to be careful with her. Her name is Larxene, she's a lightning elemental, she's really fast, and... Well, there's a reason we call her the Savage Nymph." With that, he opened a Corridor of Darkness and disappeared.

Lucy was lost in thought, disregarding the curious murmurs from around the room. Savage Nymph, huh? Larxene sounded dangerous. She turned back to her keys and picked out Roxas' key. It was the same as the other ones except for the XIII engraved on the handle and the shuriken-shaped teeth on the end. Moving on, she found Number XII's key. The teeth had four simple points that looked vaguely like throwing knives. Maybe Larxene wielded knives as her weapons?

Meh. She'll see soon enough. She finished her drink and stood and headed for the board that contained jobs. She made a lot of money from that mission in Jackalore - it'd take care of her rent for some time - but she felt like earning some extra today anyway. Maybe she could spoil herself on a trip to the spa...

Scanning the jobs available, nothing caught her eye. Find a cat, fix a building, protect a shipment from bandits...

"Hey Lucy!"

Natsu was walking towards her, a mischievous grin on his face, Happy not far behind. "That was the guy that beat all those monsters, right? Can you summon him again? I want to fight him!"

Lucy felt her eye twitch. "For the last time, Natsu, my Spirits are not punching bags..."

"Leave her alone, idiot," said Gray, coming up to them and wearing nothing but his boxers.

Natsu whirled on Gray, silhouettes of flames magically appearing around him. "Who're you calling idiot?"

Gray rolled his eyes. "What, you can't even tell when someone's calling you an idiot? What an idiot."

"I'll show you idiot!"

"Bring it, idiot!"

"Is something wrong here?" Erza flashed to the scene, a paper in her hand. Suddenly, Natsu and Gray pulled back their magic, wrapped their arms around each other in a "friendly" way and assured Erza there was nothing wrong. The fear in their eyes was evident.

"Good," continued Erza, "because I got us a job. Another S-Class, I'm sure we can handle it. All we have to do is to catch a band of invisible thieves."

There was silence in the group for a while before Lucy asked the obvious question. "Err, how do we catch something that's invisible?"

The armoured mage just smiled mysteriously, a knowing twinkle in her eyes.

* * *

"Thank you so much for coming," greeted the Mayor of Feene Heights, a portly old man with balding hair, tired eyes, and wire-rimmed spectacles. "The situation is getting worse each day, these invisible thieves growing more and more bold, stealing everyone's most precious possessions..."

"They will not be a problem anymore, Mayor," said Erza confidently, the rest of the team nodding like they actually knew what they were doing.

A few hours later, the team was standing in yet again another town square (complete with the customary fountain) with the full moon shining silver light upon them. There was no one else in sight.

"So how are we doing this again?" Natsu grumbled. "They're invisible, and it's kind of hard to hit something if you can't see it."

"They're not really invisible," explained Erza, "they're just so fast, you can't see them when they're moving."

Gray rolled his eyes. "Yeah, like that's so much better."

Erza ignored him. "So all we have to do is to make it hard for them to move."

It dawned on Gray. "Oh, I see."

"I don't see," Natsu complained. "How're we catching these guys?"

Lucy sighed and explained. "It's very simple..."

* * *

And that was how Gray and Natsu froze and set fire to the ground. Simultaneously.

Lucy was still trying to figure out the logic in that.

First, they piled a bunch of Jewels in the middle of the square to lure in the thieves. Lucy didn't think they would be _that_ stupid - it was such an obvious trap, you'd have to be lower than Natsu-level idiot to fall for it - but it turned out they were. And Lucy's opinion of humanity fell just a little bit.

About half of the thieves (there were dozens of them) stepped into their trap and their feet were either frozen to the ground or burnt so bad they couldn't walk even after the fire was put out. Lucy summoned Scorpio and Aquarius (using the water in the fountain) to capture some of the escaping thieves by creating quicksand traps outside of Natsu and Gray's circle of fire and ice.

Erza handled the remaining thieves that managed to escape, using her cheetah-printed Flight Armour to keep up with them. That took care of most of the escapees, but unfortunately the six fastest thieves - the ringleaders, by the looks of it - still managed to run to the woods, faster than even Erza in her fastest armour.

But Lucy, unbeknownst to the rest of the team, was prepared for that.

(Well, she was curious about this spirit too, but things worked out like that.)

Lucy picked out a Platinum Key from her key ring and pointed it at the general direction of the fleeing thieves. "Open, Gate of the Savage Nymph - Number XII: Larxene!"

Yellow bolts of electricity shot out of the key, twisting and binding together to form a slim woman with fierce blue eyes and short blonde hair, two antennae-like strands separate from the rest. She wore the same black coat Roxas had. The woman - Larxene - looked around and grinned slyly at Lucy, looking at the Mage up and down in a predatory fashion.

"So," the Savage Nymph drawled to a suddenly very nervous Lucy (there was _something_ about the Nobody...), "you're the one that has the keys? Feh, you don't look so tough - especially not tough enough to order around one of our own, even if it _is_ Roxas."

Lucy suddenly remembered Roxas' warning and thought, _Oh_. She swallowed her nervousness and tried to hold Larxene's gaze steadily. _It's okay, I summoned her, she can't hurt me, I summoned her..._ "The thieves - there are thieves - six of them, all in black - they escaped, really fast, into the woods - can you catch them?" _Good job explaining the situation, you moron._

Larxene snorted. "Listen kid, I have a day off for once, and I am _not_ going to spend it obeying the whims of a teenage girl stupid enough to play with one of Vexen's failed experiments."

Lucy squirmed under the Nobody's savage glare. This wasn't going well. Then, a rarely-heard voice popped out of its hiding place and yelled at Lucy, _What's wrong with you! You're the Summoner, she's the Spirit! She can't disobey your orders! Grow a backbone!_ The Mage swallowed again and forced herself to sound commanding. "I order you to catch those thieves!"

Larxene narrowed her eyes. There was a cruel glint there, beneath the blue (_wolf in sheep's clothing_). "Hmm... So he was right..." Lucy opened her mouth to argue her case - _atta girl, Lucy!_ - but Larxene continued, "Alright, I'll help you. But this is the last time you're summoning me, got it?"

Lucy got the feeling she would regret it if she didn't agree, so she nodded.

"Good." Larxene winked at Lucy before strolling into the woods at a leisurely pace, soon disappearing into the trees.

"She seems scary," Gray remarked, popping out from nowhere.

Lucy shrieked and put a hand to her chest, breathing heavily. She spun around and glared at Gray, who was accompanied by Natsu and Happy and Erza, who was in her normal armour and dragging a big ball of tied-up bleeding thieves behind her. "What the hell, Gray! When did you get here!"

Gray shrugged. "Around the time you got all bossy and commanded the Spirit to catch the thieves. She's one of those Nobodies, right?"

"Yeah." Lucy calmed down. "She's..."

"Fierce," Erza supplied. "She reminds me of a young Mirajane."

Natsu and Gray shivered, obviously reliving bad memories. Erza paid them no mind. "Let's follow her. Maybe needs help."

Lucy highly doubted that, but led the way into the woods, as she could sense where Larxene was through their bond. She was quite far into the woods (_how did she get there so fast?_), but she didn't seem to be moving, which meant she had either been defeated or had already caught the thieves.

After a considerable amount of walking, the team came upon a large pond and found Larxene standing in front of six bloody and drenched thieves. They were all shivering - Lucy wasn't sure whether that was because they were wet or because of Larxene. She suspected it was the latter.

"Took you long enough," the Savage Nymph complained, glaring at the thieves, who whimpered. "Electrocuting them stopped being fun half an hour ago. Wouldn't even scream anymore, the bastards." Indeed, all the thieves had electrical burn marks on their skin.

Lucy gaped. Damn, this woman totally earned her title. Definitely a wolf in sheep's clothing. She _really_ should've listened to Roxas' warning...

Larxene grinned, a glint in her eyes. "Roxas?" Lucy blinked - did she say that out loud? Larxene continued, "Yeah, the Superior wasn't very happy with the kid when he reported in after your first summoned him. Got in big trouble, I heard, 'cause he didn't finish his mission."

Before Lucy could question her, the Nobody waved her hand and said, "So now you've summoned me, the next one you'll be meeting is Marluxia. He'll like you, I'm sure. He has a way with flowers," she added. "Anyway, I'm done here. It was fun playing with these guys, but _don't_ summon me again, Lucy Heartfilia. Or else." With one last cruel grin at the team, she vanished into a Corridor of Darkness.

No one said anything for a while. Then, Erza walked up to the six wet mages, still dragging the ball of thieves behind her, and studied them. "Hmm..." Suddenly, she Requipped six swords and pointed them at their necks.

The thieves just stared at the spot Larxene used to stand on and shook in fear, not even noticing the very sharp swords threatening to kill them.

Gray raised an eyebrow. "Looks like that Spirit - "

"Nobody."

"... Nobody of yours made an impression."

Lucy sighed. "Yeah, she did. She definitely made an impression on me, too." By the looks of the thieves, the impression she made incouded being incredibly fast, unusually cruel and very sadistic.

"She must be really fast," said Natsu, walking up to the thieves and poking one in the cheek. "You know, 'cause even Erza's armour couldn't keep up."

Erza made no indication she heard that. Instead, she pulled out some more rope and bound the six ringleaders with the rest of the thieves. "Let's go report to the Mayor."

* * *

**Next Chapter - Number XI: Marluxia**


	3. The Graceful Assassin

**Disclaimer:** Kingdom Hearts and Fairy Tail are not mine.

**Author's Note:** I wrote myself into a wall and it took me a while to pry myself from it. Plus, I'm not good with fight scenes. And yeah, the theme for the fight here is Greek mythology. Except Perseus is Superman, Orion is a blind dwarf, and Aquila is... somewhat normal. Also, did I get Marluxia right? I know a lot of people characterize him as kind of gay because of his hair, but he's not really like that in the game...

Blech. I don't like this chapter.

* * *

**Thirteen Keys**

**Number XII - Marluxia**

**[ The Graceful Assassin ]**

* * *

Lucy was doing a job on her own.

It didn't look that bad, it wasn't even an S-Class. All she had to do was teach a rogue Celestial Spirit Mage that was giving all other Celestial Spirit Mages a bad name a lesson and to make him stop doing it... Permanently. He had been using his Spirits to intimidate, steal and hurt civilians, and that just wasn't okay. She decided to take it on her own because, well, she didn't really need any help. Besides, she wanted to fight this rogue on her own - Spirit Mage to Spirit Mage.

That, and her team wasn't available. Erza was off on her own, probably beating up some bad guys several towns over (poor schmucks); Natsu and Happy were "training" (she didn't like the look on his face when he announced it); and Gray had been too hung over to do anything more than have a staring contest with a toilet (totally deserved it after challenging Cana). Even the others were busy. Maybe she could do some jobs with her other guild mates later. Come to think of it, she hadn't had a job with Wendy or Juvia or Levy in a while. Maybe she could round up Erza and the other girls and just do an all-girls job...

The train she was on stopped, announcing her arrival at Clover Town. Wow, she hadn't been there in a long time, not since that business with Lullaby. That brought back memories... Memories she'd rather not think about.

Lucy stood up and exited the train. Now that she had a chance to look around without the threat of Erigor murdering the Guild Masters, she discovered that Clover Town was actually a nice place - when it wasn't being destroyed by Fairy Tail...

Job. Right.

She pulled a paper from her pocket and read its contents again. The Mage she was supposed to beat up was tall, had green hair, brown eyes, a fox tattoo on his right arm, and no Gold Keys that they knew of. Could be found in the town square harassing people after dark (seriously, what was up with town squares?). Yeah, this was going to be easy.

* * *

It wasn't easy.

"Open, Gate of the Dragon - Draco!"

Lucy cried out and dodged a blast of fire from the humongous green dragon the size of a house. She had seriously underestimated this guy. The mage, Wade Chronnus, laughed as he summoned another Spirit. "Open, Gate of the Chained Lady - Andromeda!"

A beautiful woman with long black hair wrapped in silver chains appeared in a burst of smoke. The chains shot out, catching Lucy and wrapping her tightly in its grasp. The blonde mage struggled futilely.

No one told her the guy was powerful enough to summon multiple Spirits at once. No one told her he could summon Spirits faster than she could blink. If it wasn't for the Grand Magic Games, she wouldn't have stood a chance against him, even with her plethora of Gold Keys against his Silver Keys. They might be Silver Keys, but _damn_, they were powerful and versatile. And what was the use of powerful keys if she wasn't fast enough to even touch them before being incapacitated?

"So this is the Celestial Spirit Mage of Fairy Tail?" Wade sneered, stepping up to her. The intimidating dragon behind him vanished to save energy. "Feh, I thought you were stronger. Guess they were exaggerating."

Lucy struggled some more and gasped as the chains tightened. Wade rolled his eyes. "The more you struggle, the more it'll tighten. Now, I hear you have quite a collection of keys..." He rummaged through her pockets, careful to give her butt a squeeze. With a yell of triumph, he held up her key ring. "Got it!"

"I don't think so." _Foosh!_ A glowing fist smashed into Wade's cheek, sending him flying into the fountain. The keys dropped to the ground. Without stopping, the fist continued its path and headed straight for Andromeda. A punch to the gut, a muttered "Sorry!", and the female Spirit vanished along with the chains.

Lucy gasped for air and gasped again when she saw who it was. "Loke!"

The Spirit gave her a charming grin and announced, "Your knight in shining armour is here to save you!"

Lucy sighed and picked up her keys. "Yeah... Thanks."

"Damn..." Wade pulled himself from the fountain and glowered at Loke. "Leo, I'm assuming? Very well then..." He took out a key and said, "Open, Gate of the Water Serpent - Hydra!"

With a loud _poof!_, a large, four-metre long silver snake slithered from the fountain. It bared its fangs, which was dripping with nasty-looking violet venom.

Loke took one look at the snake and winced. "Oh god, I don't like snakes..."

Hydra hissed, then pounced faster than the eye could see. It wrapped itself around Loke's left ankle, but one powerful light-encased kick to the head sent it flying. It landed in the ground with a thump and curled onto itself.

"It's not over yet," Loke muttered. Just then, the snake rose and struck once again. It dodged Loke's punches and kicks with fluid nimbleness - "This is why I don't like snakes!" - and headed straight for Lucy, its mouth wide open. Loke saw this and threw himself right in Hydra's path. Hydra sank its fangs onto Loke's hand.

Loke swore and ripped the snake away.

Wade smirked. "Too late. You know what Hydra's venom does..."

The Lion Spirit groaned and sank to his knees, cradling his hand, which was turning a sickening shade of yellow. Hydra struck again, this time biting his stomach, then his leg, and then his neck. Loke groaned even louder and gasped out, "It prevents... the bitten limb... from functioning... I'm sorry, Lucy." With that, he disappeared.

"Loke!" Lucy backed away from the snake. _Hydra is fast, fast enough to dodge even Loke's hits..._ She summoned Aries, hoping that her wool magic would slow down the snake. But before she could even give her orders, the snake pounced and bit Aries in the neck.

"No!"

"You can't beat me, girl," Wade gloated. He continued his monologue of how great he was while Lucy considered her options. She didn't think the rest of her normal keys would be fast enough on the get-go to dodge Hydra's initial strike. How about her Platinum Keys? Hmm, Larxene would definitely be fast enough to keep up, but she told Lucy not to summon her or else... And she could only summon Roxas if there were Heartless around... Well then...

Lucy reached for the eleventh Platinum Key and summoned the Nobody. "Open, Gate of the Graceful Assassin - Number XI: Marluxia!"

Hydra sprung at the cloud of pink petals that appeared from the end of the key, but before it could bite anything, a long pink blade shot from the smoke and instantly decapitated the snake. It vanished.

Lucy's eyes widened. Wade gaped in shock. "How...?"

"Hmm, Larxene warned me this might happen."

The cloud of smoke and pink petals dissipated to reveal a pink-haired man in a black coat. In his hands was a pink-bladed scythe with a long green handle. The point where the handle and the blade met formed a familiarly shaped pink-and-yellow cross. Overall, he looked like a very colourful but still very lethal Grim Reaper.

The Nobody, Marluxia, scanned the area before his eyes landed on Lucy. He smiled charmingly, but like Larxene, there was something hidden underneath, something... poisonous. "Why, hello there. You must be Lucy Heartfilia."

Lucy nodded. "Uh, hello."

"I've never heard of a Spirit like you!" Wade exclaimed, studying the man. "I know for a fact that there is neither a key nor a constellation named Marluxia."

Marluxia cut his gaze at the man. There was something in that look that made Lucy shiver internally. "And I assume this is your enemy?"

"Yeah," said Lucy. "You mentioned Larxene...?"

"Not important," Marluxia said dismissively. He turned to Wade, who suddenly had an enlightened look on his face.

"I see!" the green-haired man exclaimed. "I've heard of whispers of a set of Platinum Keys being discovered somewhere, a set of keys that comes from beyond the stars. You must be one of them!"

Marluxia tilted his head. "The keys are merely one of Vexen's failed experiments... Although how it got here is something that I wonder." _Vexen's failed experiment_ - that was the second time Lucy heard the Platinum Keys being referred to as such. She wondered who Vexen was. Another Nobody?

Wade, who didn't appear to listen, pulled out another key. "I must have you! Open, Gate of the Hero - Perseus!" A puff, and a handsome floating man wearing yellow spandex, a white cape, and a cocky grin was summoned. He wielded a large adamantine sword and a polished shield.

"Open, Gate of the Great Hunter - Orion!"

Another puff, and another man appeared, this time short, stout, hairy, and wearing only a simple brown shirt, breeches, sandals, and a slender hunting bow. Oh, and a blindfold.

Marluxia didn't seem to be daunted. Then again, neither was Lucy, considering the appearances of the Spirits. But she knew better - looks were deceiving when dealing with Celestial Spirits. But she also had Marluxia, and just by standing near him, she knew he wasn't one you wanted as an enemy. He had that _I-look-fruity-but-I-can-crush-you-into-fertilizer-if-I-want-to_ look about him.

There was a somewhat tense moment before Perseus made the first move and lunged at Marluxia, Orion quickly following with an arrow. Before either attacks could hit, Marluxia swung his scythe and sent a wave of energy at his opponents, effectively knocking them back a good ways way. Vines sprouted from the ground, holding the two surprised Spirits in place. Both struggling to free themselves, neither noticed when the pink-haired Nobody teleported to where Orion was and cut deep into his stomach. Orion stopped his struggling, gasped in pain and then disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Perseus recovered and managed to angle his sword to cut through the vines and threw his shield at Marluxia. Without stopping, the Spirit flew behind the distracted Marluxia and brought down his sword... Only to be stopped by a length of vine!

"Wha...?" Perseus exclaimed, eyes wide.

"Hmph, pathetic," said Marluxia arrogantly. The vine around his sword arm tightened and Perseus was barely able to dodge the scythe going for his head. Perseus broke free from the plants and readied his sword, but Nobody kept the blows coming, pushing Perseus further and further back until his back hit the wall of a house and he was cornered.

Wade swore and pulled out another key. "Open, Gate of the Eagle - Aquila!"

Poof! A big blue eagle with a sharp beak, humongous claws and a large wingspan soared into the sky and dived down. It grabbed Marluxia and threw him away from Perseus. The Nobody landed on his feet gracefully and smirked. "Well, well..." He flew at Aquila, grabbed its left wing as it was trying to fly away, and threw it at Perseus. The Spirits were knocked onto the ground, and Marluxia slammed his scythe into the ground.

A shockwave erupted from the end of the weapon, sending the Spirits into the wall of a house. Then, with one powerful swing, an energy wave completely destroyed both Spirits... as well as the house behind them.

"Pathetic," repeated Marluxia.

Lucy just stood there, overwhelmed by what she had seen. She really should have gotten used to the strength of the Nobodies by now.

Off to the side, Wade cowered, then, knowing that he wasn't going to be defeating the Nobody anytime soon, took out one last key. "Open, Gate of the Winged Horse - Pegasus!" A beautiful white horse with wings appeared. He limped and climbed over the horse and yelled, "Let's get out of here!"

Pegasus whinnied and flew into the air, now out of reach of Marluxia's scythe. But the pink-haired Nobody wasn't going to let him escape that easily. He threw his scythe, catching Pegasus in the wing. Lucy and Marluxia watched as the winged horse lost momentum and crashed, the Spirit disappearing shortly after and leaving a moaning Wade on the ground with a broken arm. A moment later, he was bound by a tangle of thorny vines, courtesy of Marluxia, none too gentle on his injury.

Lucy blinked, then walked over to the guy. She knocked him unconscious, bent down and took his collection of Silver Keys from his pocket. Without his Celestial Spirits, he wouldn't be hurting anyone for a while.

A cough from behind her, and Marluxia gave Lucy an unreadable look when she turned to address him. "It was nice meeting you, Lucy. But I have... matters to take care of back at the Castle. I assume we're done here...?"

Lucy got the hint and closed his Gate. She stood there for a moment, lost in her thoughts. _His hair is even pinker than Natsu's... I wonder if they're related... Speaking of Natsu, he'll freak once he finds out I have a dragon spirit._

* * *

**Next Chapter - Number X: Luxord**


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